Over the five-season run of The Bernie Mac Show, Camille Winbush matured from a back-talking 11-year-old into a college-bound teenager as Mac’s niece Vanessa.  She collected three NAACP Image Awards and a Young Artist Award along the way. Now 21, Winbush is back in high school, playing the recurring role of Lauren on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which returns to ABC Family with 24 new episodes on Mar. 28.

“The show hits on so many topics that need to be talked about. The cast is great and we all have a lot of fun together. My character is kind of a know-it-all, so it’s fun to be that kind of smart-alecky, bossy person,” said Winbush, admitting, “I try not to be like that, but sometimes I am.”

Her storyline will pick up where it left off, in a romantic dilemma. “I had a boyfriend, and I didn’t want him to meet my parents because I was too embarrassed by them. I was trying to decide if I should break up with him to keep my parents from meeting him,” Winbush said. 

Before going back to work, the Los Angeles native took some time to travel, visiting friends in New York, family in Atlanta, and celebrating her 21^st birthday in Las Vegas, where she loves checking out the clubs, buffets, shows, and the casinos, now that she's legally allowed to go to them. She did admit to sneaking inside in the past, however. “I’ve played a few slots,” she whispered, “but don’t tell anybody!”

(Photo:  Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)